Impact: Chapter 1

[Eail]

"Happy things huh? Well you were lucky enough to find your grandpa right? I mean that guy looks like he can handle anything that's coming our way, could certainly beat the crap out of me for hitting on his granddaughter if he felt like it. Plus we really got lucky with the people we ended up with, your grandpa is a surgeon, I'm an almost doctor, and Selena is an engineer. And you seem to be pretty smart yourself, so all of us together should be able to figure something out right?" Cyrus said trying to sound cheery

[Sakusa]

Kayla laid on the ground silently milling over Cyrus' words. "I guess I'm really lucky to have found Grandpa and to be alive, but Selena seems really scary. How do we know she won't snap and turn on all of us if she gets angry?" She sat up again and exhaled. "Plus I'm worried about these plant and animal hybrid people. What's humanity to them? And then there's the question of consciousness: would they be able to think as a human or would they give into animal instincts? There are just so many variables and even more things that don't make sense. Plus, you saw how some of the guys couldn't stand each other and got into a fight within five minutes. What if we end up getting killed over petty things? It's hard to stay calm in a situation like ours, and obviously some people snap faster than others. We can't just assume the best in everyone. On top of everyone potentially being a biological weapon, you have a man-made weapon sitting in your lap capable of taking human lives. Not only does it tip the power balance in your favor, it's extremely valuable for protecting yourself, so you're easily near the top of the newly-implemented social ladder, and that's without mentioning your medical background which effectively grants you power over life and death. Selena's up there, too. She's probably one of the only ones who can even plausibly get the fortress up and running again, plus she has weapons that can just sprout from her hands like nothing. Grandpa might be amazing, but he's still mortal and ranged weapons outclass melee battle tactics. Meanwhile, there are people like me that can't defend themselves and will eventually have to follow those in power around like sheep."

[ReformBlade]

"We aren't too far from em, just a quick walk thataway, Marcus." Hauling all of his phat loot and staying with Marcus since he didn't want to leave the kid all alone, the pair eventually made its way back, Janson announcing loudly, "I'm back! Didn't find too much, but... it should be enough for the moment. Barely enough for everyone, but again, it's just filler. I suggest we eat it now since none of this will keep very well aside from maybe the drinks, but those will get nasty. Juice never keeps, eugh..." Janson started handing out what little he could, hiding his hand but still keeping a hold onto his cane. He didn't know why, but it just felt right in his hand. "I would like to also say... Well, let's just stick to it, guys. If we make a complete and conscious effort to make it in this new world, I think we can pull it off. Lets try to figure out what exactly is in our capabilities and then capitalize on it, you know? Take me for example, ever since that god forsaken crash, I'm now a friggin healthy bastard, I recover quickly, I'd say his makes me a good scout, and if need be I can fight off any more... intruders, let's say. We need to start divvying up roles, taking shifts during nighttime, and most importantly lets just try to keep calm throughout this endeavor, OK? I know I got off on the wrong foot but goddammit if I'm going to let that get in the way of my living."

[Eail]

"Me at the top of the social ladder? Huh, that's funny. I'm probably not fit to be a leader, might be a better one than those angry guys though. I'd say your grandpa will probably take that role, with age comes wisdom after all." Cyrus mused "Anyways I don't plan to use this thing unless I have to, only for self defense or to protect someone in my group. Those animal guys are probably the least dangerous thing though, if they think like they look then we humans can easily take care of them. Other people might be a problem though, some sick freaks might actually like it better after the fall and I doubt we can trust them."

Glancing down at the weapon before him Cyrus began to study it 'Let's see what we have here... Smith and Wesson M&P9 pro series. Where the hell did this thing come from? Smith and Wesson were huge gun makers back in the day and were known for building stuff that lasted but this is amazing.' Detaching the magazine he saw that there were 16 rounds left in the magazine and one in the chamber. 'If my gun history is correct this thing could only hold 17 and it was already fired once today, that means there was another one in the chamber, lucky us.' Prying out one of the bullets he examined it '9X19millimeter Parabellum, most common round in the world before the ascension. Though I wonder how these things are in such good shape? Whatever, it fires and is in working condition, lets just hope I don't have to use it soon.' Reinserting the magazine and thumbing the safety on he observed the weapon some more

Not noticing that the blue haired guy was back until the food and juice bottle landed in his lap "Thanks, might as well dig in while we can. Some food might just be what my body needs to get the legs working again"

Edited July 15, 2012 by Eail

[Sakusa]

"The only other people that could top you would be those that are guarding the food surplus, like those two over there," Kayla replied flatly and pointed to the guy with the blue hair and the other scrawny guy. She muttered a quiet "thank you" to the guy who came around with the food and stared at her ration blankly, wondering how long food like this could last them. "Hey Cyrus, how does that gun work? I'm not quite familiar with old-fashioned weaponry, and I don't have an appetite. Satisfy my curiosity, will ya?"

[Eail]

"Well it's actually pretty simple, the bullets go in this thing here called a magazine. One of the rounds stays here in the chamber after you rack the slide to put it in there. Once you're ready to fire you take off the safety and pull back this thing here called the hammer, thankfully this gun is a self loader so you don't have to do it everytime you fire. After that the only thing left to do is aim and pull the trigger." Cyrus finished explaining "Right now this thing has seventeen rounds left, don't know if it'd be possible to find more. But it sure would be nice to have spare."

Noticing that Kayla hadn't touched her food he commented "You need to eat Kayla, we need to keep our bodies going and letting food go to waste would be really bad given our situation."

[Sakusa]

"You need to eat Kayla, we need to keep our bodies going and letting food go to waste would be really bad given our situation."

Kayla puffed her cheeks and pouted at Cyrus, indignant. "Shut up, old man! I just don't have an appetite at the moment is all. It's not like I'm gonna starve myself. I'll eat later, y'know, when I'm hungry and stuff. I find it particularly inefficient to eat when you're not hungry, and it'd be even worse in this kind of situation." She leaned over his shoulder for a closer look at the gun. "It seems to operate like the modern beam guns we have, but how does the ammunition propel itself? And how fast does it go? And how come it has such high killing potential?"

Edited July 15, 2012 by Huang Yueying

[Shin]

"Right, Alan, I think I'll leave directions to you. I'm unsure of how to build anything like that, myself. I'll still help out, though, you can bet on that."

Alan smiled, he was a polite young man, perhaps a little shy, but very pleasant. Alan scouted around, there wasn't really that much they could use. The city was at too steep an angle to really climb up there. However, Caliban had found something rather interesting.

"Hey, Alan. Have you ever been camping? I managed to find this... it's kinda like a big plastic sheet. It's got a few holes but it's generally pretty good."

Now that was a sight for sore eyes. It was nothing less than a tarpaulin sheet, the kind that would be used in camping. They could easily fashion a make-shift tent out of it, using some of the trees to make poles. All Alan had managed to find was an old cooking pot.

"Haha, that's great! We could really put it to good use. Now if only we had some tools... I don't think we're going to find any tent poles."

Edited July 15, 2012 by Folgore Red

[Nanami Touko]

Caliban found what was practically a tent, which made their work that much simpler. Just stick that up, and we'll at least be protected by the elements. "Haha, that's great! We could really put it to good use. Now if only we had some tools... I don't think we're going to find any tent poles." "Wow, I didn't even think of too... wait a second." It hit him a bit fast, and he felt sort of stupid for not asking her. But as he looked back at Cyrus and Kayla, Selena was wandering off. "Hey! Hey, Selena!" he called at her, hoping to catch her attention before she got too far off, "we could use your help!" Hoping that was enough to catch her, he turned back to Alan, "Selena's... 'power' is a bit strange; she can change her hands around into different shapes. I think it's some sort of metal, but maybe she can change them into some tools, to help out." That does make me wonder, "hey, Alan, did you get a new power, or something? I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who didn't, here. Been wondering if there's anyone else who remained the same."

[Shin]

"Selena's... 'power' is a bit strange; she can change her hands around into different shapes. I think it's some sort of metal, but maybe she can change them into some tools, to help out."

That was... handy. Selene must have been one of the young ladies from earlier. Even if she could make a saw, it would speed things up greatly.

"...hey, Alan, did you get a new power, or something? I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who didn't, here. Been wondering if there's anyone else who remained the same."

Truth be told, he'd actually wondered this already. He didn't feel or look any different, so maybe not?

"I'm not too sure in all honesty. I haven't noticed anything so far. Maybe it hasn't affected everyone... no idea how or why it affects people differently, I guess we can look into it once we get thing sorted."

[Nanami Touko]

"I'm not too sure in all honesty. I haven't noticed anything so far. Maybe it hasn't affected everyone... no idea how or why it affects people differently, I guess we can look into it once we get thing sorted."

"Huh, I guess you're right." The question was still eating at him. Why didn't he get a power? Was his just new? Something he wouldn't see until he did something specific? It began to bother him, so he threw it to the back of his mind. No use thinking over something no one can answer, right? If I have a power, I'm sure it'll show itself eventually. Instead of thinking on that, he wanted to try and get some new writing material. "So, to pass the time, think you could tell me some stories? You seem to be a rather lived sort of guy, I'm sure you've seen or heard of great things." Hearings stories of the past might be enough to distract me from the present.

[Eail]

"Well all right I guess, as long as you do eat at some point." Cyrus said with smirk on his face due to her antics

"ANYWAYS! These bullet cases contain a flammable powder in the back here, once the hammer falls on the bullet there's a striker inside that creates a small explosion that shoots the bullet out at around 330 meters per second. As for how it kills? When these type of bullets enter something they expand and start tumbling as they go through the body causing massive internal damage."

[Jaybee]

Kaden

Dustin was obviously trying to calm him down, but Kaden... Well, it wasn't working. "I... I don't know, dammit. I don't want to believe that she's dead, but knowing her... She'd... F-fuck..."

He sat down, trying to observe what was happening with everyone else. There was a girl treating a guy lying on the ground, her... grandfather? looking on. The guy was probably making passes at her, which Kaden found rather ridiculous. Hitting on people? At a time like this?

That woman with the weird hands... When her hand... transformed into a scalpel, he almost freaked out again, barely keeping it under control. He overheard Dustin talking about powers, something which almost everyone seemed to have.

Powers? Well, it didn't seem as though he had any, unless his power was to get really angry at people really easily.

"If you're talking about those... it doesn't look like I have any, really..." Some of these guys have really freaky 'powers'... like, that woman's hands. That's... freaky, to say the least.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Shatter

[roymbrog]

Why didn't Chanji respond to anything, you ask? She was busy sitting and moping. Nothing that was going on made sense, and she was trying to puzzle it out in her mind. Why had she become that... thing, earlier? Did that mean that other animal people they met could revert too? It wouldn't be right to kill them if they were still human, she thought.

Anyway, at some point Janson returned with some food, and Chanji remembered the backpack she was wearing. Dumping out the contents revealed two bottles of water, a few cans of vegetables and a bag of chips. The non-edible things were in the other compartment. “Hey, I have some stuff here too,” she said after Janson had come by with food. She still took what he offered, since it was perishable and what she had collected earlier wasn't.

She wasn't sure how helpful she could be in this survival thing. Whatever power she had she apparently had lost, but that was probably for the better considering they may have killed her for it. She absently took a bite of the beef while she thought.

[ReformBlade]

Sighing and a little miffed that people weren't taking this thing seriously, "Hey, blond girl, don't know your name... This is perishable goods, this meat here. Know what that means? It'll go real bad real quick. With all this unfiltered air and dirt and God knows what kind of chemicals are floating around, it's really not going to last long. Just because you aren't hungry now doesn't mean you don't need food. Are you full? You don't look like you're starving, no, but neither do you seem to be exuding the signs of over eating with a slim figure like that. My advice? Just eat the fucking meat. If someone /truly/ doesn't want there share, that's incredibly brave and stupid of you. We can't expect to just find food like this, delicious processed meats and beverages just lying around, but hey, if you don't want it, hand it off to someone who looks like they'll need it. I estimate maybe an hour before this meat goes bad, going by the sliced shenanigans I've dealt with..." Taking a a few pieces of teh beef, Janson started chewing it. It was hard to open a bag with one hand but he managed. Giving a pat to Kayla, Janson felt a slight shock but he ignored it for the moment, "Seriously, eat up. Chances are we'll be on the move in a little while. Speaking of moving, where the fuck are the others?" The tingling made him smile without realizing it.

Edited July 15, 2012 by RainbowKitty

[roymbrog]

Chanji had eaten about half of the beef before she started feeling funny. A moment later and she was doubled over in pain. It felt like someone was twisting her insides and it hurt. The pain alone was almost enough for her to ignore the horns sprouting from her head, if only they hadn't hurt just as much. She passed out before the shift was complete. Elongated ears and a thin coating of hair leading down to her new hoof-like fingers came afterwards.

[Sakusa]

Kayla wasn't going to take this guy's shenanigans sitting down, so she wolfed down her share of meat and sprang to her feet, sparks flying everywhere. "Okay, I ate it. Happy? I don't know who died and made you king, but I think you'd best change your attitude, buster! For one, I have a name and it's Kayla Streiss. I expect you to use it, do we have an understanding?" she whispered dangerously, and jabbed his chest with her finger, sending a painful current through Janson's body. "Next, I suggest that you get your honking ears cleaned out because I never said that I wouldn't eat it. Stop looking down at everyone around you and maybe learn a bit of humility, yeah? Maybe people will like you more if you didn't jump to so many dumb conclusions!" The air around her started becoming tense with electricity, for lack of a better word. "Don't you ever assume that nobody knows how bad the situation is or underestimate my intelligence. We've all gone through too much coprolite to have to deal with a self-righteous idjit with barely an education who thinks he knows the best for us and treats the people around him like kids who don't know better." Her rage began to peak, and the air around her began to emit sparks. She was having trouble keeping her tone even, and she was starting to feel like she stuck her entire body into an electrical outlet. "And finally... don't you flipping dare patronize me again!" The girl was going to push him away, but a blue-white bolt of electricity did it for her instead. She yelped, pulling her hand back and examining her palm as she backed away from everyone else. "What the heck? It's all red, as if I burned myself. What... what have I done?" The sparks flying around her began to dissipate, but she didn't notice. All she knew was that something was very wrong with her and she had just backed herself against a tree trunk. She didn't even notice that the girl from earlier transformed into a human-cow hybrid and is currently passed out on the ground.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Huang Yueying

[ReformBlade]

He was shocked, mostly literally, but that didn't phase him too much from smiling at her, "I was being pretty polite to you, Kayla, dunno what the fuck flipped your switch. And yes, you DID say you weren't going to eat it! Just because you have the attention span of a gnat doesn't mean you're right in this regard! And really? You're going to play the 'idjit' card on me? Alright you fucking hussy, what have you done to help out? Looks like you shocked the shit out of me and helped out this asshat underhanded mc'out-for-himself. Congratulations, dear!" Janson clapped even though it hurt his hand, "I'm really fucking proud of you! Now if you're done being a teenager, can we get back to not being a PMSing little twat? I literally went out of my way to go and scavange for food, you shove it aside like you're still in some fucking diner and you're full. Do you realize there is literally no room for that in this world anymore?! You take what you're given. And you be glad. End of story. If you wanna stop being a tomboy princess, I'll be glad to start being polite to you again." Janson finished his meal and walked away. "And the name's Janson, Kayla. So have fun thinking of insults using my name since that appears to be the grade level you're at."

[Eail]

'Oh man if I had my legs right now that jackass would have a fist planted in the back of his skull. He's pretty fucking hostile, but not worth a bullet... Did I seriously just think about killing someone? Damn this place is already getting to my head.

"You could really use a new fucking attitude aside from this hostile tough guy thing you're going for. Blue haired punk is a couple of hundred years out of style you know. She'd already said she planned on eating so why push it? Oh an me being a self serving asshole is your game? Then why have I used medical supplies on complete strangers that could be saved for me? Or used my power to heal them when it's almost killed me?" Cyrus asked

[ReformBlade]

"Easy. Establish power and gain a following of people who will trust you and respect you, suddenly you can ask for favors rather easily. And what the fuck... blue hair? Did you bash your head in too? I'm brown haired unless apparently blue is a shade of brown now..." Janson shrugged. "And I'll drop the attitude as long as people show me and what I do some respect. I walked out of my way to go help a guy, you try to steal teh only means of protection we have. I go and scavenge for food, she snubs it off like some rich bitch. I'm sorry I wasn't born into a rich family or going to one of them rich schools for mdeicine like you fuckers seem to be, I wasn't handed life on a fucking silver platter. I had to EARN what I ate. God forbid you do too..."

[Sakusa]

Kayla had just about enough of this dumb bully who seemed to be twisting her words and had no understanding of context. She was so angry, she started crying. "Polite? Who in their right mind just randomly throws curses in normal speech and acts as if it's 'being polite?' I can't believe your skull's thick enough to believe you're always in the right. How fitting that all of the horrible drama revolves around YOU! Adults like you make me sick. All you know how to do is sling words and pretend that you're in the right all the time and assume everything is the way you think. Maybe you should read a book or something, it teaches you amazing things about stuff like, I dunno, PSYCHOLOGY. But wait! How are we even going to find those things be the world as we knew it is pretty much over! Maybe you should rely on people who actually know what they're talking about! You just waltz on over, thinking you know everything about the situation and come up with a conclusion that is completely off the mark, try to force everyone else around you to believe it, and then hide behind a facade that you're something great because you did one single thing! You wanna know why I didn't want to eat? You really wanna FUCKING KNOW why I didn't wanna eat? It's because I'm too goddamn upset to! Did you know that most people don't have an appetite when they're angry or upset? Does logic fail to penetrate that puny brain of yours? I personally watched my parents die, nearly died of blood loss, my little brother's missing, I'm hurting so many people without meaning to, and now I have a dumb brute getting on my case just because I was planning on eating later! MAYBE YOU'RE NOT GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING BECAUSE NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOU. Oh hey, guess what? I AM A TEENAGER, DIPSHIT. So I'm not even allowed to express emotions anymore? Of course I know that I have to take what I get, but I'm not going to let some self-righteous WANNABE play god while he's at it! You want respect? Why don't you respect others' wishes first before imposing your own self-righteous will and conclusions on them like a fucking dictator? I would've loved to help scavenge for food or set up shelter, but I'm one of the only people with enough medical knowledge to help Cyrus and my grandpa's counting on me to take care of him!" Sparks flew again, and little bolts began to fly off her body.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Huang Yueying

[Sakusa]

BURNT DOUBLE TOAST

Edited July 15, 2012 by Huang Yueying

[ReformBlade]

"Eh you have a point, I'll step off, but to be honest you ARE overreacting." Janson yawned, not really wanting to let his anger out on people he needed help from at the moment. Though the twitching in his eye would give it away to anyone who payed attention. "I'm not trying to be a dictator, I'm trying to step up to the plate and try and get some order in this seemingly empty world. Apparently you don't like that, and to be honest I'm not looking for absolute obedience. But tell me this, is what I'm saying so unreasonable? To take whats given to you? To consider the fact that the way we lived is completely gone? I ain't saying become heartless and stoneskinned about this world, we have to make this work and I truly believe you all can do it even if I'm not there, but I DO want to be there, you know? I'm sorry for going off on you, but do try to understand where I'M coming from too. You're not the only one here to witness death. I had to witness someone's final breath, a final gasp as their life just drained from them. I couldn't do jack shit, I had to sit there and watch them become a corpse. Going by what you said... I'd assume you know how that felt to me. I can only imagine how much greater it'd be to have actually known the person in conjunction... Also I've been attacked by an extremely strange creature, while we're at it. So please drop the superiority act, we've both been through some shit of varying degrees, bottom line is we both survived the crash, we both witnessed deaths we couldn't help prevent, and now we're both in the same group."

Sighing and moving about the vicinity to keep his body busy, "And you keep calling me a brute... Do I really look all that imposing to you? I'm average height and built like a twig. The only reason I'm alive after all the abuse I've suffered is due to whatever the fuck happened to all of us after that damned crash. Like I said when I came back, we should try and figure out what exactly we can all do. You seem to be a pretty massive sparkler... Honestly, that's pretty badass. You've got protection, though perhaps you don't know how to harness it fully. There's also the possibility that you may be bale to bring some broken machinery back online... But don't take my word for it, I'm just a mean-spirited brute..." he added with all the sarcasm he could muster.

[Sakusa]

"Overreacting?" Kayla choked, sparks burning brighter, "OVERREACTING?! Some guy I hardly know walks up to me and tells me that I'm an ungrateful brat just because I was too upset to eat at the exact moment food was given to me and was asked to take care of someone I just met and didn't even have the choice to apparently make myself useful? If it hasn't been clear to you yet, I did accept what was given to me without question, so stop pretending that I was ungrateful for it! You're the one who's acting unreasonable and pushing things! How many times do I have to repeat myself before you get it? No, I'm not saying my situation is any better or worse than anyone else's, but YOU need to understand that we get it and get off our backs, because you're being a complete douchebag.

"You're a brute because you don't understand when to back off and when you're in the wrong. The people I hate the most are the ones who don't own up to their mistakes and push an issue to the point where violence wouldn't be an unattractive option. Not only do you do this, you also pull a useless age card on me when it's ability, not the number of years under your belt, matter the most! Don't forget you're a whole half foot taller than me and you're delusional to the point where you didn't know that your hair is an outdated shade of blue!

"I didn't ask for this electric junk. In fact, every little prick of electricity makes me feel like I'm being stabbed with hundreds of needles, but do you see me complaining and whining about apparently being the only person who will do xyz? If anyone needs to drop the superiority act, it's YOU. You're just assuming control because you happened to be the first one to step up to the plate, but I can tell that you're not cut out for the job. What kind of leader goes around blowing up and picking fights with everyone he sees? A real leader knows tact and knows how to deal with people and is able to diffuse a fight with minimal damage on all sides. But you? You fly at every sign of defiance, even if it's something you thought up in your head and has no place in reality. You have absolutely no knowledge of how people tick and go around ticking people off instead and use passive-aggressiveness when you apparently have to give in. Yes, we're going to have to divide ourselves up and take inventory on what people can do, but I won't stand for you taking leadership of our 'merry little band.'"

[ReformBlade]

"I backed off and yet you continue! I think I made my point pretty clearly, and I DID own up to my mistakes. I'm an arrogant brute who apparently is an idiot for not looking into a mirror to discern that apparently his hair color changed, I attack everyone despite the fact you physically assaulted me first, and apparently me getting angry at people not making sense is just soooooo wrong. I fail to see what all I've done wrong here other than act in, albeit over the top, self defense. And for the last time I'm not trying to assume ABSOLUTE CONTROL but you'd damn well better understand that I AM going to have voice in this 'merry little band'. you think I'm a retard, well, you're going to be pleasantly disappointed." Janson sighed as he looked at... "The fuck? Is that...? No seriously, who is that? Is that... Chanji?" Walking over to the heap on the ground, Janson poked her lightly with his cane. "Hey... you alive?"